


Shadows

by LilFicShark



Series: Overwatch Twitter Threads [2]
Category: overwatch
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Hinted r76, Other, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 15:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15754725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilFicShark/pseuds/LilFicShark
Summary: Gabriel is used to visions of Jack joining him on missions, there’s somthing comforting about having his old friend by his side but when he starts to see others the Reaper isnt too sure if seeing these ghosts is such a good thing.





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> A Drabble written for my friend who loves Gabriel. Prewarning that Gabriel sees vision of people and be prepared for that if it’s not your cup of tea. 
> 
> Minor R76.

Reaper can’t remember exactly when he first started doing it. It was some time after explosion. Before his promotion but after the funeral. It was in that period of limbo when he had felt so lost that he first conjured the ghost. An image of Jack clear as day. Snarky and stubborn, just as Reaper remembered him. The other man had been nothing but a figment of his imagination, created by his subconscious as a way of distancing himself from the intrusive thoughts that plagued his tired mind. Still it felt good to see his old friend again, even if it wasn’t really him.

 

“You’re being heavy footed.” It was more of an observation than a critique. Reaper side eyed the vision from his place at the corridors corner. The other man had manifested older this time, six or so years before his death. Grey hair dyed blonde with only a hint of silver at the roots. Creases in his brow and dark circles under his eyes. Before Rialto? Maybe, the vision looks genuinely happy to see him, not conflicted like the real jack had been in the end.

 

“It’s not like you to loose focus.” The other mans voice was gruff, spoken in that deep tone that had melted Gabriel’s heart from day one. The dull ache he always felt in moments like these returned making his chest feel tight.

 

“A difficult task with you nattering in my ear.” He growled back, his throat feeling dry and raw. The vision didn’t reply and Reaper turned the corner making his way more stealthily down the corridor. His objective was up head. The next turn would take him to sky bridge between the compounds two buildings. Amelie, positioned on the roof of the offices across the street, would see him there. Have his back as he crossed the exposed area. He didn’t doubt her ability for a second, the mission would go smoothly.

 

“Y’ said that last time.” The voice made him jump and he came to a stop in the middle of the corridor. That voice was most definitely not Jack’s... Cautious he turned to see who had replaced his old friend. Cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth and hands on his belt the kid regarded him with an amused expression. Gabe feels what’s left of his breath escape his lips. It’s not the real Mccree just another ghost. But it’s the first time he’s seen the man in years. This Jesse was way too young to be the real thing. Beard barely grown and jaw soft with youth, He wasn’t the scrappy, feral thing Gabriel had dragged out of Route 66 but he wasn’t far off. The vision was of Jesse in his first few years of Blackwatch. When he was a good weight but had yet to grow into his muscles, cock sure but still nervous. Happy to tease Gabe but still eager for his praise. When He’d needed Reyes the most.

 

“Your new...” Gabriel whispered to hide the uncertainty pooling in his stomach. His fingers rested gently on the hilt of his shotguns, the action made more by habit than fear. The cowboy took a drag of his smoke leisurely eyes following Gabriel’s hands with no comment before returning to his face.

 

“Jack’s finally ready to share y’. “ The gunslinger replied cryptically as he passed Reaper walking to the end of the corridor, his spurs clicking louder than Gabriel’s own footing. “You comin’? Times a wastin’ .”

 

Jaw clenched the Reaper followed round the corner in a few swift steps. He’s glad only his noises are are real. The kid could make a real ruckus.

 

The agent pauses again as he looks down the new corridor : the vision is gone, leaving no trace of his existence.

 

The sky bridge was empty and Reaper was alone once more, his only companion the dark shadow of his reflection in walkways side windows.

 

The lights were out, courtesy of sombra who currently sat in the building’s loading bay most likely watching him through the buildings extensive cctv. Foot steps light he made his way down the darkened corridor, eyes looking out into the darkness of the night. The offices across the street were pitch black, their ground floors illuminated only by dim glow of the roads street lamps. At the buildings peek amongst the shadows of the roof would be Amelie, watching him through her sights. A guardian for the few seconds it would take him to cross theplatform.

 

“Bet you’d prefer it to be me.” He didn’t stop for this voice, instead he lets her fall in beside him matching his pace step for step. Ana is radiant, young, determined she appears as she had in her prime. Uniform pristine and rich black hair cascading down her back, Her eyes scan him with that familiar calculating gaze.

 

“Sometimes...” he admitted. It was hard to place his feelings about the sniper. She’d died before getting a chance to see what he’d become so their memories together were of a diffident time. A mostly happy one. “Never expected to see you...”

 

“I don’t think you ever expected to see any of us Gabby.” They reached the end of the bridge and Reaper felt rather than saw the sniper leave, he was alone once more.

 

The mission continued and the agent pressed further into the building. Ghosts gone it was easier to focus on his task, getting to the buildings labs and securing targetsprototypes. He reached a balcony, one that over hung the buildings centre room displaying the foyer below. The agent looked up, to the floors above him where the labs were situated. It would be quicker to teleport, skip the stairs and potential cameras.

 

“I could climb it...” It wasn’t the first time Gabriel had been spooked by the Cyborg’s sudden appearance but it was the first time it had happened without him even being present.

 

 

Like the other’s the ghost wasn’t real, a snapshot from Gabe’s memories brought to life by some imbalance in the man’s brain. Genji was as Gabe knew him best, crimson eyed with exposed flesh and loose wires. There was a shift beside him and Reaper watched through his mask as the ninja jumped up onto the railing. Perfectly balanced the cyborg turned to him eyes challenging and mischievous.

 

“Coming, commander?” He asked voice undefined with robotic static. Gabriel didn’t get a chance to reply as, the ninja scaled the balconies, using two fluid jumps to reach the floor containing the labs. Then staring down at Gabriel on the floor below he winked and disappeared from view.

 

Gabriel followed, using wraithform to teleport to where the ninja had stood a few seconds before. As he’d expected the balcony was empty and his stomach felt heavier than ever. He was used to Jack appearing, accompanying him in those momments he needed him on missions. But the appearance of the others was worrying. In truth it shouldn’t make a difference they weren’t real Jack or anyone else but it still unsettled him.

 

The labs are easy to break into, the electric locks opened remotely by sombra. Reaper feels almost cheated as he pushes on the glass body of the door and steps inside.

 

The lab is spotless, organised it looks like a stock photo. It’s telling of the way the lab’s workers operate. An automatic light above flickers on and lab is illuminated properly. The glass walls of the room are flooded silver as the darkness of the surrounding corridors turns the windows into near perfect mirrors. The agent is blind to everything outside the room. Reaper trusts Amelie to protect him, knows she’ll shoot or comm if he is to be caught but he keeps his guard up never the less. Ears straining for signs someone stands behind the glass, watching unseen. It takes a few seconds, his mind ticking for a beat or two before he relents and starts his work, metal fingertips dragging along the labs surface tops.

 

Most of the machines present are familiar, mirror images of ones he’s seen in moira’s lab and reminiscent of the fuzzy memories he has of Angela’s back in overwatch. A few are foreign to him but he pays them no mind. His target doesn’t to relate to them and their relevance is dismissible. 

 

On the far side of the lab stands a large refrigerator he reahes it in a few strides and pulls it open with little resistance. There’s the slightest of hisses as he breakers the doors seal and the fridges contents is exposed to the air.

 

Vials and bottles line the inside of the fridge, Nearly all of them filled with a clear colourless liquid. The only exceptions a few small beakers of a yellowed coloured substance. The concoction swirls in its container like it’s not quite a liquid and the reaper recognises it as some kind of biotic healing.

 

“A few of those are familiar.” Jack comments leaning past reaper to point at a small vial on the third shelf down. Gabriel makes no comment as the other man points to others. He hasn’t seen them in years but he knows their not standard issue chemicals. These are the same solutions that the SEP pumped into him. The liquids that made up the concoction that the programme used to prepped him for the real drugs, the serums that would make him a super soldier. The ones that made Gabriel and Jack the fighters that the crisis needed.

 

Gabriel picks up a vial and eyes it critically. This is what talon wanted, ingredients to a recipe they only half know. They’ve preheated their oven and their ready to bake up their own super soldiers. He wonders if they’ve got their cookie cutters ready, like the ones the UN tried to use on him... and Jack.

 

Overwatch said it embraced diversity, that the different parts each of them played was as important as each other but ultimately they wanted the same thing from each agent. Obedience, perfection, to complete missions in text book fashion. They never had time for those who didn’t fit the image they were so meticulously painting. It’s why Jack got the position over him, it’s why Jesse and Genji were pawned over the blackwatch. “Can’t make shiny hero’s out of those ones but I’m sure your make use of them. No point wasting good scrap.”

 

At the time he’d taken pride in it, doing the dirty work, saving the world from the threats it never saw like some guardian angel. He liked creating a place for his boys too. Showing Jesse the world wasn’t all dust and death, Helping Genji find his feet again even if the kid did throw it back in his face weekly.

 

“So what are you going to do?” He’sglad it’s still Jack. He knows how to deal with Jack. His hand glides over the chemicals, the ones he’s been sent for. The ones he has burned into his memory. “You don’t wanna do this, not really...”

 

He’s not sure if Jack is right... doesn’t know what’s right ... he hasn’t for a long time .

 

The Reaper doesn’t get a chance to make a decision. An alarm goes offand Gabriel whips his head round so fast it’s a surprise he doesn’t get whiplash. Voice gruff he growls down the comms to Sombra. She makes excuses about fail safes and signal issue. A few seconds into the conversation and it becomes clear the mission needs to be aborted. They will retrieve nothing tonight.

 

He leaves the room before the lab seals, Amelie covering his exit from the building and the team is evacing in a matter of minutes. Bundled into the back of a helicopter each equally frustrated.

 

Gabriel’s never really sure what decision he would of made that night if the alarms had never gone off but he never sees Jack or the others again and he thinks it’s for the best... even if a small part of him misses the moments they shared. 


End file.
